


Exposure

by Songberd



Category: Metal Gear
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-22
Updated: 2014-07-22
Packaged: 2018-02-09 21:31:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1998549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Songberd/pseuds/Songberd
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Long before he developed REX, Hal was still little more than a pawn.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Exposure

He'd been asleep when they came.

There was no shattering of glass or buzzing of their security system. Only silence. Mother had come into his room, whispering frantically to him, but he never heard what she said. _Too tired_. She'd hurried him down the hall to their bedroom when he realized that she was crying. Why was mommy sad? His father wasn't in the room. "Where's daddy?"

His mother shushed him and tried to hurry him into their closet, deep and dark. He didn't like the closet much, unless the light was on, but then daddy would always find him in hide and seek. Out the window, which was open and letting in a chilly draft, he heard an engine running. "Are we playing hide and seek?"

She moved the clothes around on their hangers to shield him. "Uh huh, hide and seek. Daddy...daddy is counting, honey. You need to be so quiet, ok?" She turned the light off as she began to back away. "Uh uh. Leave the light on." He began to cry. "Shh, shh, baby. Please." She closed the door, leaving the boy in darkness. He snuffled and closed his eyes. But it only made the noises beyond the door louder.

"There's only me. You took my husband, please...please just go. I don't know anything." Mother sounded brave, but it only scared the boy. Who was out there? There was a tired laugh. One Hal didn't know. It didn't sound like a sound either of his parents would make. "Don't make this any harder than it needs to be. We ain't dumb." There was a thud against the door.

"No."

"No. No!" Mother didn't sound brave anymore. There was a click and something dragged down the door. After a few quiet seconds, the door opened. Hal hunkered among the clothes, pretending he was playing hide and seek with daddy. The closet light flicked on and Hal heard the man flipping through the racks. Closer and closer, until...

"You aren't gonna make a fuss like your mama, are you?" A man in a black mask shoved aside the clothes that kept Hal hidden. "Mama?" He parroted. The man sighed and threw the bag over his head. Hal didn't thrash, but he cried as he was carried away to he didn't know where. At some point, his hands were bound and he was put into the trunk of a car. There were no voices and he cried himself back to sleep.

Hal only woke up when he was set down in another vehicle. This time no one made him lie down and he could hear voices.

"The kid cried all the way here. Thank god we threw him in the trunk.”

"Might throw him in the ocean if he cries all the way to base."

There was a third voice, angry, "Better not let Boss hear you talking like that."

"What's he care about whining brats?”

"The kid is a bargaining chip. We lose him and _we'll_ be in Ocelot's fucking chair."

There was a long silence and then the sound of helicopter blades.

Hal snuffled again. "Don't start, kid."

He whimpered and then screeched when a hand collided with his head. He didn't make another sound for the rest of the ride. Eventually the voices around him picked up again, but it was all jargon that he didn't understand. A hand gripped his shoulder, causing him to flinch, as they landed. Once again, he was hauled away, unable to feel the ground beneath his feet as whoever was carrying him held him under their arm. His hands hurt. His head hurt. He was scared and confused.

"I'm gonna take your binds off. Don't try anything, alright?" A scary voice warned him. Hal mumbled a timid agreement. There was a tightness around his wrists before he finally felt relief and then the bag was pulled from his head.

He squinted, but found the light to be dim. He saw another black masked face before him and sucked his lips in, feeling the tears rising. The man lifted a hand and Hal flinched, preparing for the collision, but an unmasked man limped into the cell, the dim light catching his sunglasses just right. He seemed to glower at the soldier crouched before Hal.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

The masked man froze, his raised hand slowly lowering and he quickly stood at attention, turning on his heels. “Get out of here, soldier.” Snapping a salute, the subordinate slinked off. Limping forward, the man looked down at Hal. The boy wiped his nose on his arm and looked at the concrete floor. It looked like there were stains and he traced them with his finger. “Do you know who I am?” He asked. Hal shook his head.

“My name is Kaz. I’m a friend of your father’s. You see, your dad did a bad thing, but he’s not being very helpful or honest, so we brought you here to help your dad. And then you can all go home.” Hal chewed on his lip and finally looked up at the man. He gave a slow little nod.

The man smiled, “Great. Now, you just stay here for a bit and I'll come back to get you soon. Alright?” Kaz turned away, and made his way out, only to pause, and look back at Hal again. “Got you this. I know it’s a little gray in here.” From his pocket, he pulled a little plastic dinosaur. Hal’s face lit up, “Godzilla!” He clapped and reached out for the toy. Kaz tossed it to him. He grasped the toy to his chest.

Kaz watched Hal for a moment, now seemingly caught up in some other world now that he had a familiar distraction. He leaned heavily on his crutch and sighed, sliding the cell door shut behind him.

Eventually, Hal fell asleep, the plastic toy held tightly in his little hands. He dreamed that he was at home again until a loud clattering woke him up and the cold concrete floor startled him. The child was overwhelmed by sadness once again. Not even the sight of food was enough to quell it. Someone had tossed a tray of food into the cell. Something pale and chunky had bounced off of it and had spattered on the floor. A wrinkled slice of meat was halfway off of the tray, but he carefully picked it up anyway and gave it a cautious nibble.

It was too salty, too tough. Hal put it back on the tray and looked out at the dim hallway. It was quiet save for faint sounds coming from down the hall. Crawling to the bars of the cell, he rattled Godzilla against the bars and made little growling noises.

But his mind was restless and not even Godzilla could hold his attention anymore. "Daddy?" He said, quietly at first, wondering if he might've been nearby. They said he did something bad, so why wouldn't he be in jail with Hal? "Daddy? ...Kaz?" He called a little louder now, even trying the other man's name in case he was nearby.

A heavy footfall echoed down the hallway, then another. Hal jumped nearly a foot and crawled to the back of the cell again. A large shadow appeared on the other side of the bars. He was taller than the other man, and his arm seemed to glint in the light. Hal slowly let his eyes go up, terrified and yet oddly enthralled by this robot man. An eye patch covered one eye and something shiny and wet was streaked across his cheek.

"D-do you know Kaz? Are-are you gonna take me to see daddy?"

The robot man was quiet for a second, but his metal fingers wrapped about one of the bars, making a shrill scraping sound.

"Yeah, kid."

Hal slowly got up, holding Godzilla by the tail. The stiff plastic scales dug into his palm, but he didn't notice. The cell door slid open and the robot man extended his scary robot hand to Hal. He stared at it for a long time before putting his free hand into the oddly warm palm.

He was led down the hallway and the noises that he heard before got gradually louder. His breathing sped up. The sounds were scary. Crying and yelling. He couldn't process the words, but their tone was frightening enough for him. Robot Man let go of his hand and Hal stopped, too afraid to move forward. It seemed like his guide had no intention of coaxing him forward.

The man eventually disappeared into the room where the noises were coming from, and the scary sounds stopped, but only for a moment.

"What the fuck did I tell you, Ocelot?" Robot Man's voice was suddenly louder than any of the scary sounds had been. He sounded mad. Whoever Ocelot was, they didn't respond and there was the painful sound of metal against skin. Then a pained yell and then silence again.

Robot Man reappeared and he looked mad, but he took Hal's hand again and led him into the room. It was somewhat lighter in there than the cell block had been, if only due to the addition of another red light and a desk lamp sitting on a cart. The lamp was aimed at someone with a dark bag over their head. Whoever it was, they looked dead.

Hal shuffled his feet and did his best not to whine even though he was frightened.

A gray-haired man leaned against the far wall, his cheek steaming red. He looked irate and stared right at Hal. That must've been Ocelot. Robot Man let go of Hal's hand and closed the door behind them. He moved to the other end of the room, taking up a space against the wall. He seemed very far away. Hal didn't like that.

Ocelot pulled the bag off of the limp person's head and Hal found himself staring for a long moment. Whoever it was, their face looked all red and puffy. "Hey, we have a guest for you." Ocelot had leaned down and half-yelled into the man's ear. The man gasped and coughed. Ocelot laughed as he leaned back. Robot Man didn't say anything.

The man in the chair slowly sat up and it was in that moment that Hal felt pee running down his pant leg. "Daddy!" The boy nearly screamed.

"Don't move." Ocelot said in such a way that caused Hal to freeze right where he stood. There was a resounding click and a gun was being pointed at his face. Hal felt tears running down his cheeks. He was so confused. His eyes shifted towards the Robot Man. But he just sat there, unmoving.

Ocelot had grasped his father's hair, wrenching his head back. His eyes slowly opened and he hacked again. "We brought lil Hal to visit, doctor," Ocelot seethed at the man, and yet there was a smile on his face. The gun that was aimed at Hal didn't move an inch.

"This...is low, even for...you." Dr. Emmerich sputtered.

"Oh now, now, Doctor. Did you really think we'd just leave you alone after what you did? That we'd leave your family alone?" Ocelot looked back down at Hal, still frozen. "You're smarter than that."

The tortured Huey looked through puffy, bloodshot eyes at his son. Hal wanted so badly to know what his father had done.

"I told you...I-I don't know anything."

Ocelot let his gun fall and began to spin the chamber. One by one the bullets tinkled against the floor. Five distinct sounds, and then he gave it a nice spin and locked it back into place. "You're not a very good liar. And trust me, I know." He tapped at the side of his nose.

"So, come on. For little Hal here."

"He doesn't know anything," There was a pleading tone to Huey's voice now; he was grasping at straws.

Ocelot sighed, and pulled back the safety. Hal felt himself start to choke on his own fear. The revolver spun dangerously around Ocelot's finger. Robot Man continued to sit silently in the corner, and Hal knew then that he wasn't the good kind of robot.

"No. Please."

"Your wife is already dead. Do you really want to risk it? You just need to talk. It's so easy." Ocelot wasn't looking at Huey anymore. The Doctor made a noise akin to a sob, a dry choke.

"Snake..." The Robot Man, _Snake_ , rose from his chair in the corner and came up behind Huey. "Everything we've...do you really think I'd do this?" Snake didn't say a word, and threw the black bag back over his head. Ocelot cleared his throat as Snake retreated back to his corner, arms crossed, eyes down. Huey squirmed weakly for a few moments before giving up.

"Daddy..." Hal muttered, watching the dangerous weapon go around and around. It seemed effortless. "Last chance, Emmerich," Ocelot threatened and took a step closer to Hal, his spurs scraping across the concrete.

"One."

Click. Hal flinched, his entire body shaking.

"Two."

Another click. Huey said something, but it was muffled by the bag. Snake stirred in his chair.

"Three."

Still nothing. Snake got up, soundlessly moving towards the cart. He lifted something from it.

"Four."

Snake was at Hal's side again as the sound of another empty click ripped through the silence.

"Five."

Hal was deafened by the shot as it fired and whisked past his head. But he was given no time to react as a needle sank into his neck and he fell limp to the floor. Huey cried out and threw himself forward, falling roughly onto the floor, bringing the chair down on top of him.

Ocelot grinned as Snake hauled Hal's unconscious body from the room.

"And now you have nothing left to lose."


End file.
